Christmas, Board Games and My Re-Love of Hot Yoga

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here so here is a late "Merry Christmas" and an early "Happy New Year" to everyone out there :)

I went to Vancouver on Christmas Eve to spend time with my sister, niece and brother-in-law who are living over there while my niece is getting her treatment at BC Children's hospital. Even though it was not the usual Christmas that our family is used to, it was still a wonderful visit and I am very happy that I got to see them and see my niece open her presents. Unfortunately I had to leave on Christmas day since I had to work Boxing day, but that was alright. It was worth it.

Like I said, I've been keeping busy which has been highly enjoyable! I have to take a couple courses next semester which means that I get to become a whining procrastinating student again, but I only have 4 courses left before I am done this program and then I am free! Free! Free!!! The past few months, living as only an employee and not a student has been great, so I am not looking forward to cracking open those textbooks and putting my nose to the grindstone again. But like I said. Just 4 more courses to go.

723 Yates Street
 Just in case you want to drop in.

Saturday night I was promised a "fun night" by a friend, and I was pleasantly surprised to end up in a new board-game cafe downtown. It's called Interactivity Board Game Cafe and it's a quirky little cafe which specializes in board games! When you walk into the cafe, there are hundreds of board games stacked upon the shelves for the board game shoppers of Victoria to purchase. As you move on through the cafe, there is the sales counter where you can buy food, snacks, beverages and literally a "bowl of candy" for your munching needs. Then past that, there are about a dozen large tables set up and roughly 600 games for your playing pleasure. Basically how it works is you pay a flat rate for each person ($5/person) and you have unlimited access to all of the board games for as long as you want. Whether it's a charming evening for a couple to have a date, or a place to bring all of your friends for a random game night, there's something for everyone at this place.

I think it is a pleasing business concept and I am very interested in how successful it becomes. It's only been open for about 2 months now and after talking to one of the employees, it sounded like they were having good feedback so far. I can think of lots of pros and cons to the idea, so hopefully all of the cons disappear that they have a lot of success in their fun business endeavor. I'm always rooting for the independent business owners out there!

Yesterday morning started with a nice hike up Mt. Work. It's a fairly easy hike and if you stop to enjoy the scenery at the top for a few minutes, it only take a little over an hour round-trip. A nice Sunday morning hike. I didn't bring my camera so I have no pics to share of the trail but there was 1 or 2 magnificent views near the top.

I also got back to hot yoga yesterday :) I am ashamed to say that it has been nearly a year and a half since I stepped into a hot yoga studio and...oh man. I nearly forgot how amazing it feels to spend 90 minutes in a stupidly hot room and have obscenely amounts of sweat run off your body while standing in awkward positions with a bunch of nearly naked strangers. It felt great to get back in there. While I am not a huge fan of the Bikram Yoga, it was still good to get back in there and enjoy the amazingness of hot yoga (yes "amazingness" is a real word....)

So after burning several hundred calories in yoga, there is no place like Bin 4 to gain a couple thousand back into the body. I have been jonesin' for a good burger the past couple of days and wanted to hit The Pink Bicycle, but alas, it is closed on Sundays. So Bin 4 provided us with the greasy comeback needed after a great workout. I have eaten there a few times now and I swear that every burger I have at that place is better than the last. Between the "Mr. Bean" and the "Angry Bull", you just can't go wrong with Bin 4.

Well, back to work tomorrow. The last working day of the year! YAY!